“Capturing Kabul is not Taliban’s policy for now. We will wait for the September deadline given by the US but after that it will be risky for the foreign troops if they overstay,” the Taliban told the BBC.
The statement came in response to media reports that about 1,000 US troops could stay on in Afghanistan to protect the American Embassy and Kabul’s international airport.
The UK is also reportedly considering the retention of an “advisory group” of elite special forces soldiers in the country.
The Taliban spokesman in Doha, Suhail Shaheen, said no foreign forces, including military contractors, should remain in Kabul after the withdrawal was completed.
“If they leave behind their forces against the Doha agreement then in that case it will be the decision of our leadership as to how we proceed, and we would react. The final decision is with our leadership,” Shaheen told the BBC.
The Taliban has also been taking the international media for conducted tours in Afghanistan to prove that they have been capturing large swathes of territory in recent weeks particularly targeting the north – a long way from their traditional homelands in the south.
Their spokesperson is continuously emphasising how the Taliban has progressed and how it's not the same regime that was toppled by the US-led coalition in 2001.
However, there is a sense of betrayal among the Afghans who believe in peace and stability with the last of the US soldiers flying out of Bagram Airfield after 20 years, amid escalating clashes and violence between the Afghan military and the Taliban.
Afghan government spokesman Razwan Murad has said that the government is ready for talks and a ceasefire and the Taliban should now prove that they were committed to peace. But the Taliban spokesperson said that it is up to the top leaders of the group to decide.
The Afghan government and the Taliban are both presenting claims and counter-claims about their victories on the battlefield. The Afghan Defence Ministry has said that more than 10,000 Afghan commando forces are engaged insuppressing the Taliban across the country and that their number will increase over time. The defence officials told the media that there are foreign fighters, especially Pakistanis and Al Qaeda militia, fighting along with the Taliban. He also said in the past few weeks many fighters with Pakistani army identity cards have been caught by the Afghan army.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that “the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization is swallowing up territories in Afghanistan amid NATO’s withdrawal from the region and an irresponsible approach by a number of officials in Kabul,” reports the Russian news agency TASS.
Lavrov said “there is an urgent need to restart the political peace negotiation as early as possible as we seek to persuade political circles about the need to stop dragging out the negotiation process. Agreements on a transitional government must be achieved”.
Meanwhile, former Interior Minister of Pakistan Rehman Malik has made the shocking revelation that Afghan Taliban are being trained to use modern weapons which could prove a threat to the region in coming days. Without divulging any further details, Rehman Malik told the Pakistani media that one passing out parade for the new trained Taliban recruits was organized in an undisclosed place which was attended by Mullah Yaqoob, the son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar.
Last year Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob was in the news when he was appointed head of the Taliban military commission, making him the insurgents' military chief. On 29 May 2020,senior Taliban commander Mualana Muhammad Ali Jan Ahmed told Foreign Policy that Mullah Yaqoob became the acting leader to the entire Taliban after Akhundzada became infected with Covid-19. "Our hero, the son of our great leader, Mullah Yaqoob, is running the entire Taliban operation in Haibatullah's absence," he had said.
